A Hero Once More....My Husband Rocks!

Yesterday my husband was a hero. Oh, not like he was here, but he was a hero nonetheless. Yesterday he went here:

He didn't just give blood, though. Yesterday he gave platelets. In case you need a Biology 101 refresher, as I did, platelets are what makes your blood clot and help you stop bleeding when you've had an injury. In other words, without platelets, you might bleed to death from crashing your hand through your back window while trying to get your dog's attention to get him to stop eating poop in the back yard. Not that that has EVER happened to me. Ahem.

All kidding aside, for real emergencies platelets can mean the difference between life and death.

Sound Man came prepared with his iPod and a book. The process of platelet removal takes about two hours. He was hooked up to a cool machine that did all kinds of stuff that I won't go into because, well, some of you may be squeamish. Suffice it to say the platelets were separated from his blood. Later on he said that his arm was sore, but after taking a couple of Advil he was good to go.

As common as it is, BLOOD can mean the difference between life and death, too. Sound Man has only one more unit of blood to give until he reaches 3 gallons. Meaning he has given 3 gallons of life to other people. Sometimes he knows where his blood goes and sometimes he doesn't. The last time he gave they told him it was going to LeBonheur Children's Medical Center. How precious to know that his blood was going to help save the lives of children in our community.

Lifeblood recently recorded a video and asked him to be a part. I can't help but share it with you. It's a bit long, at 9 minutes, but I hope you take the chance to watch it. The story of the little boy in the school bus accident made me realize how precious our blood is. My Sweet husband is toward the end of the video.

Lifeblood Video from Combustion on Vimeo.

If you have type O blood, your blood is in high demand. Sound Man's is type O+, but mine is O-. Mine is EXTREMELY in demand, as I can donate to anyone. Positive blood types can only donate to positive blood type recipients. However, negative blood types can give to + and -, and type O- is universal.

So, you'd think that I've given as much as Sound Man, right? Well, try as I might, I have yet to be able to give. The first time I tried, I had a fever blister. Did you know you can't give within three days of a fever blister? You DO know what a fever blister is, don't you? Well, I didn't until a few years ago, and about had heart failure. If you don't, I'll fill you in later.

Anyway, the second, third, and FOURTH times I've tried to give, my iron was too low. That is a common problem for women, and if you decide you want to give, make sure you eat lots of iron-rich food a few days beforehand. I haven't yet, but you can bet the next time I try to give I will have had more spinach than Popeye. It makes me so sad not to be able to donate.

I want to be able to follow the example my Hero of a Husband has made.

My Husband Rocks! Fridays were started by Katy Lin at The Great Adventure. I'm so glad she did!